Guardian Hunter
by MarleyMarley
Summary: A survivor, a hunter and a partnership no one has ever thought could occur in a world of infected. What will this new found friendship bring into the living and undead world? Cover photo is by this wonderful artist at DeviantArt, please check his page out. His name is Dangem, just search for him at the site since I can't put up the link here.
1. The Beginning

Guardian Hunter

Cover photo is by this wonderful artist at DeviantArt, please check his page out: His name is Dangem (I can't put the link here, just search him in the site)

It has followed me for nearly an hour now. Watching from afar, when I try to scare it off with a round from my shotgun, it'll run away but after a few minutes, it's back again. It has always kept its distance, I couldn't bring myself to just kill it, it wasn't attacking me or anything, it was merely just watching, for me to do something.

It was on a slouched position, its hoodie covering much of its face, only his bloody jagged teeth shows through the light of the pale moon. I have travelled from the city mall to a large farmland before I noticed it was on my trail. I try to get closer to see if it was going to attack but it only growls and backs away from me. I let it be and just let it do what it wants. If it wanted to attack, the last two hours, would have been a perfect opening for it to do so, but it didn't. This particular hunter was… _different._

I sat leaned against some hay inside a large barn I found after hours of wandering about the farmlands. I had just wasted four bullets on a freakin' jockey and was relatively running low on ammo. I make a mental note to find some tomorrow and start a small fire. The orange glow illuminated a small portion of the barn, I stare out into the doors of the barn and I see it on its four looking, watching me. Was it waiting for me to sleep and then attack? Probably, but why make its presence known to its target? It just didn't made sense. I make a spit roast of ducks I hunted earlier and decided to leave it on the fire as I check out the rest of the small home next to the barn. I turn to see the hunter approaching the duck but kept away because of the fire. If it just wanted something to eat then I'm fine with it taking the duck. Just as long as it leaves me alone.

The front door of the house swayed easily to my light push. I step inside and the only light that shone inside was from my flashlight. The place looks safe but seeing the blood trail leading up to the second floor made me think that making the barn as my stop for the night a good idea. I pump my shotgun and head upstairs. I slowly make way, making sure I didn't make a sound on the wooden stairs. At the top of the stairs, I hear something walk in from downstairs, a low growl follows and I know it's my stalker. I pay no attention, seeing that the hunter really meant no harm, and continued my search of the second floor.

I open the first door to my right just as a hand punches the air out of me. I hit against the walls, shaking the entire house in the process, and fall to the wooden floor. My sights began to spin as I stand up and see a large charger looking at me and readying itself for a mad dash to where I stood. I fired two rounds before it charged at me, I easily evade by rolling to the side and fired another shot to its side. It swings its arm and I get hit and am almost sent flying. I fall to the floor and see, just in time, it brings down its large arms towards me, I dodge and grab my shotgun that I accidentally let go when I got hit by his arm swing, and shot another round. I looked like it was unfazed by the bullets. It even had a smirk on its face. It charged at me and I thought it was about my last time, there was nowhere to run, I was cornered into a room. The windows were boarded, the space too small to dodge. I was done for.

I hear a loud growl just as something lands in front of the charger's face clawing away at it and making it blind. The charger stops midway and flails its arms in the mid-air trying to get the thing off of it. I shine my flashlight, which now had a crack on it, and saw that it was the hunter that was following me. It clawed away at the charger's face as the charger slammed itself to the walls trying to shake the hunter off.

I fire another round, my last one, to the charger's stomach and it wails out in pain. The hunter jumps off just as the charger falls, face first, to the wooden floorboards. I look at the hunter and it growls before making a distance between us. I hear thunder roar outside and the pitter-patter of heavy rain hitting against the roof of the house. I start to walk when I feel the sharp pain in just above my stomach, I must've broken a rib or two. I breathe slowly as I notice the pain that was brought every time I took one. The adrenaline was running out quickly and my entire body had started to succumb to the pain. I limp-walk downstairs and I see the hunter outside by the porch looking outwards to the darkness, it turns its head and sniffs the air. It slowly approaches me but before it gets halfway through the door before turning its head again and jumping off into the distance.

I limp back towards the barn and I'm soaking wet as I sat back down near the fire. I'm surprised it hasn't touched the duck and the bird had burnt into an almost black skin. I take it out and crack off the black stuff and start to eat when, again, I notice it sitting just outside the barn soaking in the rain.

"Why don't you get yourself in here and we'll share this treat?" I say. I half-expecting it to stand up and walk casually speaking normally saying thanks, instead I get a growl and a slow crawl until half-way and a firm stop. "Hey, you helped me out there earlier" I said throwing a piece of the duck to the ground in front of it.

It looks down, dipping its head low and sniffing the roasted duck. It takes it and jumps off into the second floor of the barn where it eats the entirety of the piece even the small bones. I let it be and it resumed its watch over me. I'm beginning to think that this guy's my guardian. I finish my piece of the duck and give the rest to the hunter, who happily accepts them, and limped back to the front door of the barn and locking it. If the hunter was to attack me when I sleep then I deserve it for being too careless about the situation but if it doesn't… then I'm not sure what to think of it.


	2. Hunt the Hunter

Guardian Hunter

Ever since the start of this chaos, of the infection, I never had any dreams. It was just a static scene from old televisions, when it couldn't pick up any signals for anyone to watch. My sleep hours usually took about six to seven hours a night and that would usually do me good for the next two days or so. I slowly open my senses to the pain of a broken ribcage, the blinding rays of the sunlight flooding in from the cracks and opening of the barn's walls and ceiling, and to particular heaviness on my chest.

I slowly open my eyes and look down. I was scared shitless and stared at the sight. The hunter's head asleep atop my chest, it wasn't breathing but I knew, somehow, it was asleep. I try to move but its arms were on across my body holding my other arm. What the fuck was this thing? It wasn't a normal hunter that was for sure. Its head was to mine and I couldn't see its face. I hear from radio rumours that hunters don't have eyes and I've never bothered to check the ones I had killed to prove if the rumours were true, it a world where you are always chased every day, rumours are the least of your worries.

I slowly lift my body up and it buries its face deep into my chest that the pain from my broken ribcage shoot out all over my body. I gasp from the pain and the hunter's head jerks up and turns towards me, it growls keeping the hoodie down for me not to see its eyes and jumps away. "Hey, you were the one invading private space" I said before trying to stand up. He leaps off into the second floor of the barn and I walk out of the stable I slept in. I walk towards some boxes where I hid my guns and supplies and find two boxes of shotgun ammo sitting beside the gun, there were some med supplies too; aspirins, bandages and a first aid kit. I was barely conscious from my walk out of the house but I remember never bringing anything out of the house. I hear a low growl and look up, I see it—him—perched on the ledge of the second flooring.

"Did you get these for me?" I ask still half-expecting it to talk back. "Thank you" I said. I know being friendly with the enemy was bordering between the lines of either daredevil or plainly stupid but there was just something different about this one hunter.

It growls, a soft and low growl, and drops off unto the ground. It's still on its fours, I know it can walk on its two legs—I've seen one do it before—but possibly it's just in its nature to crawl, jump and do almost everything on all fours. I slowly crawls towards me and I just stand there curious to what it will do next. We were at least two meters away from each other before it did something strange and fascinating, it bobbed its head up and down like it was nodding to my question.

"You understand me?!" I shout in surprise.

I cocked its head to its side like it was confused whether I had known the fact it had understood what I was saying to him all the time. I nodded a second time and I automatically sat on the boxes taken aback by the gravity of my discovery. An infected, a hunter, could understood what I was saying.

"D-do you have a name?!" a asked getting carried away by my curiosity.

It raised his head, still I couldn't see his eyes, but I saw his long and straight nose, his bluish dead skin perfectly free from decay or maggots. The gesture he made, I would assume that would be a raised eyebrow. I was stupid to ask him that question.

"Oh yeah, forgot you couldn't talk anymore" I say. "I'll just give you a new name then!" I added.

The hunter growls loudly at me, I think that meant _No. You're not naming me, I'm not your pet. _And I'm pretty sure that was the message he was conveying.

"Okay, fine. I won't name you, but I'll still call you Hunt" I said crossing my arms. He cocks his head again and gives a low growl. A _Fine, you can call me that _kind of growl. "It's short for Hunter, since that's what you are… a hunter and I thought—

Hunt already leaped back to the second floor before I finished my stuttering. I compose myself and checked my equipment. He even brought me a handgun, I check the gun and it's fully loaded. I sling it on my belt and holster the shotgun on my back. I pack my things and I shout out to Hunt. He growls back and jumps down to my side, still keeping a good distance, but not too far from me like before. We walk out of the barn, the sun already high up in the sky, and see black smoke rising from the far north, where the mall was, and a sublime and quiet stretch of land to the south. Slinging my bag carefully, because of my injuries, I walk towards the south of the open field, Hunt followed a few meters behind, I needn't to constantly look back if he was following me or not, his constant low growls were the only thing I could hear, everything was eerily silent like it was still the dead of night.

- Two Weeks Later -

"Get ready, Hunt" I said as I peered through the binoculars. "Two on the right and four on the left. I'll take the left ones, you go get the other"

I hear a growl of agreement and I put back the binoculars, I found earlier the same day, into my bag. I crouch behind some dumpsters as Hunt leaps to the side of the buildings and disappear into the rooftops. I pull out my hunting rifle, another thing I found earlier this week, and aimed at the nearest of the four. On the left side of the intersection were four infected idly standing waiting for prey; two men and two females. The nearest one was a woman with red hair and wearing an "I love Anime" shirt. I lock and load the gun and fired. The silencer at the end made the sound of the bullet leaving the gun to a whishing sound. It hits the infected woman and she drops to the cold snowy streets. The others turn towards my direction. I fire another round and it hits the farthest one of the group, the infected man wearing a business suit falls to the ground. The other two, finally noticing their attacker charges at me. I hear a loud growl from the right side of the intersection, Hunt must be going all out on those two. I lock on my target and waited for the right moment. The two infected were a few meters away when they made the mistake of perfectly aligning with each other, I fire one bullet and it goes through the both of them and they slump to the ground, they were running at me so fast that when they fell their momentum carried their body grazing and sliding on the frost covered asphalt road.

I see Hunt leaping out of the corner and towards me, his jacket heavy with blood from hir targets. I step out from the dumpsters and he returns to my side. I pat him on the head, the only touch interaction he let me do to him, and he growls softly. "Hunt, what to check the store out?" I ask. He leaps off into the distance and I follow him into a small pharmacy.


	3. Welcome the Trio

Guardian Hunter

"Hunt, go look for anything we could use" I tell him as we enter the pharmacy. It was a small drug store with a long counter at the back of the space. There were aisles before, but after the initial outbreak of the infection people had rummaged through the town and left of what they thought they wouldn't use… that meant they brought everything with them. Hunt was idly looking—or hearing, I guess—at the back of the counter and I quickly made my way to a small part of the pharmacy where there were boxes upon boxes of old newspapers and magazines. I search through the stuff and found some old worn clothes, I see the toppled sign at the back of the boxes. **DROP OFF **FOR THE NEEDY. Shrugging to myself, I took the sweater and pants and looked for any spare room I could use to change. The weather outside was starting to get colder and my thin leather jacket won't hold out in the cold very long.

"Hunt, where are you?" I bellow out when I notice he had gone quiet. I hear a low growl and see him crouched behind me. He was looking up, the shadow of his hoodie covering his upper face, by this time I actually had given up trying to get a look at his eyes, he gives a creepy, yet sweet smile—or what I think it was at least. "I'm going to change, okay? If you her any survivors, hide. We don't want any trouble with them" I ordered. He gives a short nod and scurries off behind the counter again.

I see a restroom sign on a door behind some toppled aisle stands. I push some away and I hoped it wasn't lock. I twist the knob and it clicks open. I go through and open the light thinking it would open. It didn't. Cursing under my breath, I took out my flashlight and left it open and pointed at the ceiling, it gave off little light but I was able to see myself in the dark. My auburn hair had really grown long, it was around mid-waist now, I make a mental note to get it cut soon or it'll become a liability in the field. My green and blue—I'm Heterochromatic—eyes were above dark and deep bags of restless nights, the cut above my thin lips was still healing but I'm afraid it'll leave a permanent mark, my slightly crooked nose seems the only thing that was intact or hasn't been destroyed by the infection outbreak. I take of my jacket and tank top and had a hard time taking off my undergarment in the dark. I put on the tee-shirt I grabbed with the sweater and pants and put the rest on me after that. I looked like a sixteen year old, high class biker chick because of the leather jacket I wore with the sweater. The pants felt a little tight and—

I loud crashing sound made me jump knocking my flashlight unto the floor, it rolled and shone on some cleaning products and well… a half-eaten lower half of a man sitting on the toilet bowl. Why hadn't I noticed him until now? The sound came again and I instantly shouted for Hunt to stop what he was doing.

"Who's there?!" sounded a voice from behind the door.

Shit! Another survivor. I try to not move but when the door swung open I quickly grabbed my rifle and pointed it at the man on the opened door. "It's rude to sneak up on a girl while she's dressing" I said.

He smirks and hollers to his friends. Two young girls, both looked like they were just fifteen or a year older, stopped behind him. "Hello" says the one with the ponytail with a cheery attitude. The other girl sighs and leaves towards the counter. Shit! Hunt! I hope he had hidden himself somewhere.

"Let's not point guns at each other" says the man. "You're one of the livin' and I don't think livin' beings should go and pointin' guns on each other"

"I already have someone with me" I said looking past by him and keeping my eyes on the girl with a bob cat style hair.

The girl looks over the counter and jumps back screaming for the man. Shit. The man runs towards her and ponytail runs to the front of the shop and tucks away behind some broken down shelves. The man pointed his gun at the counter and the bob cat runs to the other room side of the shop and crouches beside the other girl. "Wait, don't shoot!" I said as I run towards the man, he swing the gun at me and it connects to my lower jaw. I fall down and the gun, an automatic pump-action shotgun, goes off shooting the ceiling and sending plaster and dust raining on us. He points again at the thing behind the counter and I had no time to react but load the rifle and point it at his head.

"Hurt him and I'll kill you" I said firmly. Hunt raises his head from the counter and I accidentally shoot the gun. The bullet whizzes behind his head and he twirls towards me pointing the gun. "Shoot me and he'll have the perfect opportunity to kill you and those girls" I said coldly staring down the barrel of his shotgun.

"Fuck this!" he shouts. "What the hell do you think you're doing with that _thing_?!" he asks pointing the gun towards Hunt who ducks down the counter again.

I point the rifle again at him. "Do it if you want" I said. "I'll kill you, I won't let you hurt him"

"Jake! Please, I'm scared!" shouted ponytail, she was crouched and holding her hands to her ears. "Please!" she shouted again.

I look Jake in the eye and he drops down the gun. "Hell, if that thing kills you, I'll tell you I told you so"

"Then tell that to my face in hell, you bastard"

He eyes me for a moment before giving off a chuckle. "You're actually a badass" he says. I raise my brow, the rifle still pointed at his head. "Hey, take a compliment for god sake's" he says raising his hands up in the air in a sign of surrender.

"He's not going to hurt you. I promise. But you won't hurt him either, got it?" I said.

He looks at the two girls, they were huddled together at the corner of the store. Bob cat looks at him and nods vehemently wanting to end the frightening situation. "Fine. But if he goes for one of my daughters, I'll snap his neck" he says in an almost humorous manner.

"How'd you find him?" Jake asked as we sat around the campfire we made inside the pharmacy. Deciding to stay in the store for the night, he introduced himself as Jake Muller and the two girls as his adopted daughters; Kennedy, the ponytailed one and Sandra was the other.

"Actually" I said looking back at Hunt who sat much like a dog behind me, munching away at a piece of beef ribs. "He found me. One day, he just started to follow me around"

"Wow" says Kennedy. "That's just… amazing!" she said taking in a spoon of her soup.

"That's disgusting" says the other. Hunt does a low growl and moves away from the group and back to behind the counter. "What?" she says when she caught me looking at her badly. "Was he your boyfriend before the infection or what? Because that sounds like a typical creep behaviour to me" she shrugs before taking a bite out of her bread.

"Well, he _is _a _hunter._" Says Jake who was cleaning his shotgun. "Anyways, I'm sorry again for hitting you earlier" he says.

My lower jaw did hurt a little. "It's okay. I've been hit far harder than that" I said.

"So" he starts. "It's just the two of you? Like… what does he do, exactly?" Kennedy asked.

"He mostly does what I ask him to do" I say. "But sometimes I let him be and he hunts whatever it is he wants to hunt, except to at least leave the other survivors if he did finds some" I add.

"He's cool" she says before turning to her sister who looked more annoyed than ever. "Isn't he?" she asked her.

"Yeah" she starts. "For a dead piece of garbage" she quickly adds.

"Hey, what the fuck is your problem?" I said. She looks stunned and taken aback by my words. "You're the ones barging in on me and Hunt, tried to kill him and then had the guts to ask me if you could stay for the night. Fuck that, if you're going to act like a sore ass piece of shit, I suggest you leave"

"Hey, now come down" says Jake getting in between us two. I hadn't noticed that I was already halfway towards her. Kennedy was already gone from the scene. She was looking at the piles of magazines and newspapers I found earlier.

"How come you're not like your sister?" Jake asks her.

"Because she never had to go through what I had!" she shouted back at him before storming off into the darkness outside.


	4. Out in the Cold

Guardian Hunter

"She'll be back when she cools off her head" he says walking towards the other girl.

"She better cool it off" I said walking towards where Hunt had hid. I found him huddled in the corner end of the counter, he looks like his usual self, pale blue kin, sharp bloody teeth. Nothing out of the ordinary. I look back to the front of the store and can't help but think of the things outside and how alone Sandra must be feeling. _But she was the one who started it_ the inner demon inside me spat out. She was over the line when she crudely misjudged Hunt but I was also out of it when I yelled back at her. She and her family must just be tired running and surviving in this hellish new world.

I see Jake talking with Kennedy, I think he's trying to reassure her that he and Sandra are fine. Kennedy's not to bright, I have to say if I' being honest, but I'm not that smart too with the whole a Hunter-being-my-friend situation. I guess I'm both of these two girls. Jake sees me spacing out and gives me a worried look. I shake my head and walked towards the front of the pharmacy. "I'm going out. I owe her an apology" I say. He gives me a curt nod and I open the doors to a frigid landscape of blood, snow and desolation.

Snow was softly falling down, the light at the end of the street, which miraculously was still alive, gave a faint glow to the area. I see Sandra huddled against the wall of the next building, she was staring down unto the snow covered pavement. I start to move towards her and she raises her head to my direction. She looked surprised. "Hey" I start. "I'm sorry about… earlier"

She looks at me for another second before dropping her sights on the pavement again. "How can you live with that thing?" she said coldly. Now that I think about it, the snow and the freezing weather fits perfectly with her attitude. "An infected out of all things" she adds.

"I don't know" I say to her. "This sit taken?" I ask pointing to the space beside her. She shrugs and moves a bit away from me when I sit down. "I guess I just learned to go with it"

"That thing's dangerous. Haven't you seen the stuff they do to us?" she says, her eyes never left the pavement. "I'm starting to think, I', the only sane person left alive" she says to herself.

"Hunt saved me" I start. She looks up to me with surprised looks before shaking her head and making an intimidating laugh. "He did"

"What makes you so sure _it _didn't just wanted you for _itself_?" she asked.

"Well" I think of a reason that Hunt could have had to not attack me since. But, what was there to tell her? Hunt was special, he isn't like the other Hunters I've faced, even on our journey to this town, we've encountered many like him, but he fought with me… fought _for _me. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"But you're still in danger. Every. Single. Day as long as you're with that thing" she counters.

She was right on that part, as long as I don't figure out what Hunt wants from me, or why he followed me in the first place, I will always be in danger. "I guess you're right on that one" I said. Having enough chit-chat with her, I stood up and offered my hand to her. She looks up and shakes her head.

"I'll stay out for a bit more. I like the cold" she says.

I walk back into the pharmacy just in time to see Jake and Kennedy getting ready for bed. They laid a few inches from each other, Jake had his arms around her giving her warmth. He raises his head and he sees me. I give a curt nod and a small smile before walking off to my side of the store, I sit against the wall near the restroom I used earlier and watched the front door. Hunt comes towards me and lays his head on my legs. He's awfully acting much like a cat or dog rather than the other ones. I place my hand on his head and watched as Sandra entered the store and made sure she locked it.

She sees me and quickly turned her sight on her sister and step-father. I wonder what happened to their mom. I never got ask Jake where she was. But I would assume no one would like to tell stories of their personal life to a complete stranger. I let the fire die out an hour after the three had slept, Sandra was on the other far side of the room away from her family. This girl must have been through a lot, she'd rather make distance to her loved ones than to be with them.

I hear Hunt give a low growl and I start to fall asleep. I hear infected roaming just outside the store, I want to stay awake but I'm too tired. I closed my eyes and the next time I opened them, it was morning.

"How'd you sleep?" ask Jake as we passed by some thrown out mattresses on a nearby alley. The sun was breaking through dense grey clouds. I find the warm rays of the sun a blessing through the cold night. Kennedy was with her sister, Sandra, a few feet in front. Sandra was all solid and focused on what was in front of her, only giving a few turns towards us if they get too far upfront. Kennedy was the total opposite, her head spun on every little detail that we've come across as we walked out of the small town.

"Good, thanks for asking" I reply.

"You know, I still don't trust your friend over there" he says cocking his thumb upwards to the rooftops of the buildings. I look up and see Hunt leap from building to bulding.

"Well, he's all I have" I say. "It's better than being alone"

"You can always come with us. Kennedy already has a liking to you and I'm sure Sandra's going to open up sooner or later" he says stroking the beard from his chin.

"What about Hunt? I can't just leave him" I protest. "And I know what you're going to say, that he's just a monster or something and that it's better for me to leave him" I say looking up and seeing him shoot out his head form the ledge, he gives off his little kind-of-creepy smile before jutting out to the next rooftop.

"Well…" he starts but never finished. We reached the end of our destination; a fork in the road. One led to the south and the other further east. "Here we are" he says. The two girls turn towards us.

"Will you two be joining us?" Kennedy asked. "You and Hunt are coming with us, right?"

"Uh… no" I said. I feel Hunt brush against the side of my leg and I look down to see him crouched and on all fours. "We're heading south, I'm looking for someone, you see" I add.

"Oh" she looked disappointed. Sandra was stoic the whole time. "Well, I guess this is good bye then" she moves away and stands next to her sister.

"Good luck out there" I say as they headed east.

Jake turns and waves. "You too"


End file.
